EAMONN LILLIS, who is serving a jail term for the manslaughter of his wife, Celine Cawley, is entitled to his half-interest in assets jointly owned by himself and his late wife, including the couple’s family home in Howth, the High Court ruled yesterday.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy found, under existing law, the joint assets must go to Lillis, but he must hold one half of them in trust for the estate of Ms Cawley.
The assets, in addition to the family home, valued at up to €800,000, include an apartment in Sutton with an estimated value of €190,000-€200,000 and several investments worth some €68,000. Another property in France is the subject of separate legal proceedings yet to come before a French court.
The judge said the relevant laws allowed the court no power or discretion to interfere with Lillis’s existing rights to the joint assets and the issues raised demonstrated that, “ideally”, there should be legislation to decide what happens to co-owned property where one co-owner kills another co-owner.
Such legislation would address policy complications arising in a situation where there were three or more co-owners and would have regard to changes to the law in 2009 concerning the co-ownership of property, she said.
Given her findings, Ms Justice Laffoy said an agreement between Lillis and his daughter, Georgia, and Ms Cawley’s family as to how the joint assets would be divided would be the optimum solution in the circumstances.
If agreement could not be achieved there would have to be further court proceedings, resolution of the issues would be delayed and further costs would mount up, she said.
The judge also ruled that Lillis had to account to the family for his dealings with the joint assets since Ms Cawley’s death.
The family has alleged they had no idea where the rent from the Sutton property had gone since January.
The case has been adjourned to January to see whether a resolution may be achieved.
The judge was yesterday delivering a reserved judgment on proceedings by Ms Cawley’s sister Susanna and brother Christopher, as joint executors of Ms Cawley’s estate, and Georgia Lillis, aimed at preventing Lillis (53) securing any interest in assets jointly owned by himself and Ms Cawley.
The order against Lillis was sought on grounds arising from the fact that Lillis was convicted of the manslaughter of his wife in December 2008, for which he is serving a sentence of six years and 11 months.
Ms Justice Laffoy found she could not conclude Lillis’s share in the joint assets was automatically severed on the death of Ms Cawley, and ruled he was entitled to his share of those assets.
In the absence of legislation empowering the courts in situations such as this, the court had no power or jurisdiction to interfere with Lillis’s existing rights to the joint assets.
It would not be proper to hold, following the death of Ms Cawley, that ownership of the joint assets should be determined on the basis that Lillis should be legally deemed to have predeceased his wife, the judge also ruled.
The plaintiffs, who were in court yesterday, had argued that the effect of Lillis having an interest in the assets, including the family home, would bind two people together in circumstances where Georgia Lillis had said in an affidavit she would rather have “pins stuck in her eyes” than have her father “come within six miles of her home”.
Ms Lillis also denied claims by Lillis she had entered into an agreement with him that he could return to the family home after his release from prison. She also expressed her deep hurt over the actions of her father.
Lillis, who did not attend yesterday’s judgment, is legally prevented from inheriting any of his wife’s assets because he was convicted of killing her. While defending his share of the jointly owned assets, Lillis did not assert any claim over his late wife’s interest in the joint assets.